Vinyl Wednesday: GRAHAM CENTRAL STATION - RELEASE YOURSELF
Graham Central Station is the band of bass player and singer Larry Graham. "Larry Graham, Jr. is an American baritone singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as both the bass guitar player in the popular and influential psychedelic soul/funk band Sly & the Family Stone, and as the founder and front man of Graham Central Station. He is credited with the invention of the slapping technique, which radically expanded the tonal palette of the bass, although he himself refers to the technique as "Thumpin' and Pluckin'." (Bass Player magazine, Apr 07). So.. what about that slapping technique? According to Dutch wikipedia, in the 60's he played in a duo formation with his mother on piano and by the absence of drums he started to use the noises of the snares in a percussive way so it made a drum sound. There's a whole article on English wikipedia about slapping technique in general. Graham is mainly famous for using his thumb and index finger, while Mark King also paradiddles and performs the left hand slap... not to forget Victor Wooten with his more efficient technique plus index/middle finger plucking.. yes.
Back to this album: I think my favourite tune is "Tis your kind of music".
Horns of this album are performed by Tower Of Power plus Hershall "Happiness" Kennedy, Grahams' trumpet player. Funny enough, the Tower Of Power horns are not credited as such, but with their apart names.. Gregory Adams, Emilio Castillo, Michael Gilette, Stephen Kupka, Leonard Pickett. More credits: Produced by GOD Co-produced by Larry Graham. I was already wondering what kind of job God would do and how I could get in touch with him.. I can just meet him at the studio! The studio he used at the time: Record Plant, Sausalito, California. Enjoy listening.
Today is the official release of my latest album Dark Horse!Pictured here: Susanne Alt and Dark Horse drummer Willie Jones III in The Hague a few weeks ago.Dark Horse, along with all other previous albums, is available in my shop. If you want to support me, this is the best way, apart from buying the items after a concert. If you order your CD or LP here you will get a handwritten card from me and I will post it personally :-) 100% of the revenue will go to the artist and her label.But Susanne, I thought Dark Horse was already released 2 weeks ago at your concert at Bimhuis?That was a sort of pre-release concert. I chose this moment to sell physical merchandise there because once there's a digital release, for some people it will lead to less physical sales. On the other hand, digital platforms are a chance to let people listen and let them decide how they want to listen. I get it, it's convenient, and I also use a lot of streaming media for learning music and teaching. Personally, I choose to buy an album when I really love the music and/or want to support the artist, especially if it's self-released. Did you know that it takes more than 2000 Spotify streams to equal a revenue of €10? Sometimes, at concerts I get into discussions, why I sell my cd's and vinyls so cheap?People tell me I should be charging €15 or even €20 per cd and €30 or €35 for an album. I feel I don't have to make more profit on top. I rather want to encourage you to buy some of my previous albums... and carry it the brand new tote bag :-)Also, we used the concert at Bimhuis for shooting video material. In about 2 weeks I will send a newsletter with an overall update, also including brand new footage of this new music, so stay tuned. Subscribe here (Subscribe form on the website).Other ways to buy Dark Horse:If you happen to have a gift voucher from bol.com, order it from there. There's distribution in Germany for the people that like to order it via WOM, HHV and other shops.Super happy to make this happen, also extra shout out to German distributor Plattenfirma to go. I wish there was a service like that in Benelux and other countries as well! I definitely can recommend their services.And, how convenient, since today Dark Horse is out on all digital platforms.Reviews and radio airplay are coming in one by one, mostly involved, interesting and positive responses. Sometimes I read that the expectations of the writer was different, or sometimes things are misunderstood, but you know, what really counts is that people take the effort to write about it!!! Writing about culture is important, wherefore thank you everyone who makes it happen. I really appreciate it and feel humbled. Thank you Jazzfuel once more again for the outstanding service and communication.From time to time, Incoming press will be added to the press section, so if you come back sometimes, you can see that it will be filling up. Also, if you want you can read around in our archives with all the articles about previous albums. - Graham Central Station is the band of bass player and singer Larry Graham.Larry Graham, Jr. is an American baritone singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as both the bass guitar player in the popular and influential psychedelic soul/funk band Sly & the Family Stone, and as the founder and front man of Graham Central Station. He is credited with the invention of the slapping technique, which radically expanded the tonal palette of the bass, although he himself refers to the technique as Thumpin' and Pluckin'. (Bass Player magazine, Apr 07).So.. what about that slapping technique?According to Dutch wikipedia, in the 60's he played in a duo formation with his mother on piano and by the absence of drums he started to use the noises of the snares in a percussive way so it made a drum sound. There's a whole article on English wikipedia about slapping technique in general. Graham is mainly famous for using his thumb and index finger, while Mark King also paradiddles and performs the left hand slap... not to forget Victor Wooten with his more efficient technique plus index/middle finger plucking.. yes.Back to this album: I think my favourite tune is Tis your kind of music.Horns of this album are performed by Tower Of Power plus Hershall Happiness Kennedy, Grahams' trumpet player. Funny enough, the Tower Of Power horns are not credited as such, but with their apart names.. Gregory Adams, Emilio Castillo, Michael Gilette, Stephen Kupka, Leonard Pickett. More credits:Produced by GOD Co-produced by Larry Graham.I was already wondering what kind of job God would do and how I could get in touch with him.. I can just meet him at the studio! The studio he used at the time: Record Plant, Sausalito, California.Enjoy listening.
